Russia rejects US demand for Snowden's extradition; says he's not there

View full sizeA TV screen shows a news report of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at a shopping mall in Hong Kong Sunday, June 23, 2013. The former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs has been allowed to leave for a "third country" because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory's government said Sunday. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Russia's foreign minister says his country will not honor demands from the United States to extradite Edward Snowden, the man who leaked National Security Agency information on U.S. surveillance programs.

According to an Associated Press story, Sergey Lavrov said that Snowden was not in Russia, having never crossed a Russian border. While Snowden was not seen Monday, he was booked to be on not one but two flights out of Moscow.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Lavrov lashed out at U.S. demands for the extradition and warnings of negative consequences if Moscow fails to comply.

Lavrov said that accusing Russia of "violation of U.S. laws and even some sort of conspiracy" with regard to Snowden is "absolutely ungrounded and unacceptable."